Chapter 1-2
1420 Words
Heath DiMarco stood at the front door of The Rise and Shine and wondered for the millionth time how he’d gotten saddled with the task of picking up cupcakes for the teachers’ meeting that evening. The kids had already gone home for the day, although most of the teachers would stay until the meetings started a few hours later. Heath had planned to go home for a bit, but now he had to pick up cupcakes. And avoid making a bigger ass of himself.
When his principal, Mr. Anderson, had asked him to pick up the damn cupcakes, he hadn’t been able to come up with a good excuse not to.
I’m sorry, I kissed one of the bakery workers and then told her it could never happen again?
I’m sorry, I’ve been banned from that bakery for all intents and purposes?
He hoped Jubilee wasn’t working today. He also hoped she was working today because he wanted to see her. He wanted to make sure she was all right after last night.
Then again, how would he know if she was all right? She wouldn’t tell him, even if he asked her. And he’d f****d up—badly.
This is never going to happen, he’d told her just last night, his heart twisting with guilt at Jubilee’s expression. The hurt, the humiliation. He shouldn’t have let her kiss him. It had been a stupid mistake with long-term consequences.
“Are you going inside?” a woman asked behind him.
He jumped a little, startled, before pushing the door open and holding it for the woman to enter. She gave him an odd look before entering the bakery.
The scents of bread and coffee filled Heath’s nostrils, and he almost allowed himself to be comforted by the homey smell.
No one was at the counter. The woman rang the bell, and then rang it again when no one appeared within three seconds’ time.
“I’m sorry, I’ll be right there!” Jubilee’s voice called from the kitchen.
Heath gritted his teeth. He considered paying the woman in front of him to pick up the cupcakes and then bring them to him outside. Like a d*******l, except with cupcakes.
He didn’t get to put his illicit-cupcake plan into action before Jubilee came into the bakery, her cheeks flushed. When she spotted Heath, though, she stopped short but not before colliding with the corner of the counter.
Heath winced.
“Ow! Dammit!” Jubilee rubbed her hip. “Sorry, how can I help you?”
“I need a loaf of sourdough,” the woman replied.
Heath could just imagine the disdain on the woman’s face. How far did the stick up her ass go?
Right then, his and Jubilee’s gazes met. He rolled his eyes at the woman. Jubilee bit her lip, ostensibly to keep from laughing.
After Jubilee had finished with the woman, Heath stepped up to the counter and found himself unable to find the right words. Did he apologize? But then again, he doubted Jubilee wanted to bring up last night. Maybe he should just act like it had never happened. It had been a lovely dream, kissing Jubilee Thornton, with her soft lips and the sound of her sweet moans filling his ears—
“Are you here for your latte?” Jubilee asked. She fidgeted, looking especially young to Heath.
That always-present guilt inside him nipped at him. There were multiple reasons why he and Jubilee could never happen. One of them was that she was too young for him. The other? She was his best friend’s younger sister.
A best friend didn’t poach on younger sisters.
He cleared his throat. “Cupcakes. I’m picking them up. They’re probably under Anderson.”
“Oh! Yes. Let me go get those. They’re in the back.”
Heath couldn’t help but enjoy Jubilee’s ass in those tight jeans she always wore. He rubbed his temples.
When he’d moved to Fair Haven seven years ago, Jubilee had just been a kid. Heath had thought of her as a younger sister as he’d become friends with her older brother Harrison. As the years had passed, Jubilee had grown into a beautiful young woman. And to Heath’s dismay, she hadn’t left Fair Haven. She’d stayed to torment him.
He laughed under his breath. Jubilee was the last person who would knowingly torment someone. It was his own problem if he now thought of her not as a younger sister, but as a desirable woman. A woman who’d kissed him last night and had blown his damn mind.
“Heath, how are you? Did you recover from last night?” Megan asked as she and Jubilee both came up to the counter. “When did you finally leave?”
“Um, around midnight, I think.” He’d left right after the kiss had happened. He hadn’t wanted to tempt fate, especially being around Jubilee in that flapper costume.
“Here you go. They’re all paid for.” Jubilee pushed the box of cupcakes toward him, making certain their fingers didn’t brush.
“Thanks.” He hesitated, although he didn’t know why. What could he say? He was sorry? He wanted another kiss? He was an i***t?
Both to his annoyance and gratitude, another customer entered the bakery. He took that as an opening to head out.
He couldn’t stop from looking at Jubilee one last time: her dark hair, recently cut into a short bob, framed her heart-shaped face, her eyes a striking green. She was smaller than her siblings, no taller than five-five or so. In the last few years, she’d grown curvier, and at the moment, her cotton t-shirt gave a hint of cleavage every time she bent down.
He needed to get the hell out of here before he did something really, really stupid.
Distracted, he didn’t realize Megan was coming around the counter to clean a table when he collided with her. Megan let out a surprised “oh!” while Heath just barely hung on to the cupcakes. Megan stumbled, falling to the floor but catching herself just in time.
“Are you okay?” he and Jubilee both asked at the same time.
He helped Megan up after he’d set the cupcakes down on a nearby table. Megan laughed.
“I’m fine. Are the cupcakes okay? That’s the most important thing.” She wiped dust from her jeans. “Those took Jubilee all morning.”
“Jesus, I’m so sorry. I guess I’ve been far away today,” Heath admitted. He made a point to avoid looking at Jubilee right then.
“No harm, no foul. Just don’t tell Caleb. He’s already way too overprotective.” Megan stuck out her tongue, crossing her eyes. He and Jubilee laughed, but then abruptly stopped.
“I’ll see you later,” he muttered.
She just nodded and went to help the rush of customers that always came in during the afternoons.
As Heath grabbed the cupcakes, he noticed a folded-up piece of paper on the floor. He picked it up. Had Megan dropped this? Or Jubilee? He was about to ask them when he read the word virginity in looped script. And then a name: Jubilee. His eyebrows rose to his hairline. Was she writing a romance novel? Now he was doubly intrigued. She didn’t seem the type, but appearances were deceiving.
But it was none of his business. Turning, he was about to find Megan to give it to her for Jubilee, but she’d disappeared. Jubilee was busy with customers, and he wasn’t about to give her some weird note right then.
He told himself he’d keep it and give it to one of the women later. He had a feeling it wasn’t the type of note Jubilee would want lying on the floor for any unsuspecting customer picking up.
He stuffed the note into his pocket. The note remained there throughout the meetings that evening, and he’d almost forgotten about it by the time he arrived home four hours later.
When he pulled out the note and stared at it, almost wishing he could read its contents without opening it, he considered. What if it wasn’t Jubilee’s? What if it was about her, and if he gave it to her, she’d get hurt in the process?
That was enough of an argument to convince him to open the note and read it.
JUBILEE’S LIST OF THINGS SHE WILL DO WITHIN THE NEXT YEAR
Make out with a guy Go to a concert Smoke a cigarette Go skinny-dipping Lose my virginity (see list of eligible men)Heath sat down on his couch, staring at the list until his vision blurred. He hadn’t looked at the list of eligible men. He didn’t want to.
Because he would be damned if Jubilee did any of these things—most especially lose her virginity—with any man but him.
Except he’d told her they could never happen. Groaning and swearing, he dropped his head into his hands and cursed himself for being a giant fool.
- Writer
